I hate to say it, but we may just possibly have it wrong about the banks. Received wisdom says they are reverting to their bad old ways, and that punitive measures are called for – the first and most concrete being higher capital requirements.

But maybe the banks are in worse trouble than we realise. Maybe some of their grosser offences, such as huge sign-on bonuses, are in fact defensive action against the real credit crunch to come. In which case, hitting them with capital requirements now may mean we assuage our feelings at the expense of our pockets.